Now the NSA will appeal. Off to the Supreme Court it goes. About fucking time. It is time to enforce the fourth amendment. I hope there are many more fourth amendment challenges in the pipeline. The bill of rights is the only thing left to save us from government tyranny.
The notion that you have to store solar electricity is based on political factors, not energy factors. Energy use is highest during the day, so much so that hydroelectric generation is normally turned on in the morning and off at night. If you have a large solar base, you simply shut down the hydro on the days that the sun shines, and turn it on at night instead, or in the day when the sun is obscured over most of the powershed. There is no rule that you have to run hydro by day, and no rule that says solar facilities have to provide power at night. Hydro can quickly ramp up and down to load balance.
Dispersed solar power over a two or three state area will provide a fairly standard amount of power each day even if part of the area is cloudy. Only in the event of a large storm will the power be reduced over the whole area, and hydro can pick up the slack when that happens. Think California, Arizona, and Nevada. They are mostly sunny anyway, and only very rarely will all of these states be cloudy at the same time.
Your comment about bean counting is just stupid. It is a business, and the beans have to be counted. Period.
There would be a much quicker return on the investment if the money was invested in dispersed solar generation. Low interest loans and tax credits to homeowners would have panels on roofs in a few months, not the decades it would take to get a nuke online. Also, remember the $226 million is just a start. The cost of nuclear power is huge if it is done even halfway intelligently. Dispersed solar power is quick and cheap. For now the greatest demand on our power networks is during the hot summer afternoons, which is exactly when solar panels produce the most power. This is a perfect fit for our power needs.
Nuclear power is the most heavily subsidized power source. If we can afford to subsidize nuclear, we can subsidize solar. The difference is an almost immediate effect on power generation rather than the twenty year lag for nuclear. Solar subsidies are a good bang for the buck.
WalMart does have lots of solar panels. With solar panels being so cheap now, it wouldn't take much more in the way of subsidies to literally have panels on every WalMart, BestBuy, KMart, and 7-Eleven. Imagine subsidized loans to put panels on every elementary school. Billions are loaned for every nuclear power plant, why not turn thousands of schools into power plants instead?
If you ask questions about our energy future from a nuclear context, you will get nuclear answers. If you think about it from en environmental viewpoint you get environmental answers. If you think about it from the economic perspective you get economic answers. If you think about it from the renewable context you get renewable answers.
Unfortunately, the solar industry looks at the issue from the context of huge solar power plants instead of dispersed solar installations. That is where the money is. If the solar energy issue is addressed from the dispersed solar context it looks way different. Imagine empowering businesses like WalMart to cover every store with solar panels. Imaging requiring every new home to have solar panels. Imagine retrofitting all the appropriate buildings in the country with solar panels. Imagine the hydroelectric power plants changing their generation schedules to generate at night when solar power goes away, instead of in the day like they do now when demand is highest.
This can be done much quicker and more cheaply than the nuclear path. It takes twenty years to get a nuke online. Dispersed solar can be online in a year or so. The cost of solar panels comes down almost every day. If you think dispersed solar, the equation changes on everything.
I'm with you on the rootkit fiasco. Sony has not gotten a dime from me since then. They probably didn't notice it, but I feel great about boycotting them nonetheless..
Fukishima melted down because the earthquake cut off power, and then the tsunami flooded the emergency generators because the designers failed to anticipate the size of the tsunami wave. In a cyclone of this size the loss of electric power is a certainty. If the Fukishima designers failed to adequately protect the generators from an unanticipated tsunami, what is to say the designers of a Filipino nuclear plant would have anticipated the height of the storm surge from such an extraordinary cyclone? I think the assumption that a nuclear plant would have survived is little more than an assumption. A poorly designed nuclear plant could be built anywhere. Failing to protect from unanticipated events is a mistake that engineers make all the time.
".. in most places, cats aren't allowed to roam unleashed off your property any more than dogs"
I am a cat owner. I have never heard of any place that has a cat leash law. I do think it might be a good idea, but I am not aware of anywhere it has been enacted. Can you give me a few specific examples of "most places"?
At last, someone that actually read the article. Banning the manufacture and sale of the worst wood stoves forces the public to buy the wood stoves that are less polluting. They can keep using their existing wood stoves in most cases. What is wrong with this?
The EPA rules do NOT ban woodburning. They do not ban existing woodstoves. They simply try to move new woodstove buyers into better stoves. The technology is there and the new regs just require people to use it.
If the sun is turning into a red giant and toasting our planet to a cinder, the biosignature of earth is a tiny footnote to the real event. Who cares if the plants die of a lack of CO2 right before they are incinerated? The main event is the star.
"The Sheep Look Up" is a book by John Brunner. I thought it was a fitting reference for those that read older science fiction. In the story, the sheep did finally look up, as I remember it, but they endured hell-on-earth before they did. The point was, eventually even the most passive people will eventually see the obvious things that are in front of their noses.
You are correct, but only up to a point. Normally the average voter is uninformed and unengaged, but there have been times in the past where voter outrage has overcome apathy and misdirection. There have been situations where the outrage of voters has trumped the political contributions of the corporate interests. It doesn't happen often, but it has happened in the past. I really don't know if the snowden revelations will even come close, but it should. We are in the middle of a virtual coup. The constitution has been suspended, probably indefinitely, and the sheep don't seem to care.
Slashdotters seem pretty appalled at these revelations, but when will the general public reach the point of disgust? In theory the people of the USA still have the power to change these behaviors through the ballot box. The news just goes on and on. but the outrage seems slow to reach the surface.
"WTF has this country come too?!" A coup, basically. By suspending the constitution (Patriot Act) we no longer have rights. Between the Patriot Act and Citizens United we no longer are a constitutional democracy.
Like it or not, the Patriot Act effectively suspended the Constitution. Under the Patriot Act the government basically does as it pleases and they don't even have to tell anybody what they do. It is only because of Edward snowden that we even know about any of this. Will the supremes uphold the constitution? I doubt it. The Global War On Terror isn't over until politicians declare it over. Get some new politicians, and we'll see then.
We drive less because we order everything from Amazon instead of shopping, but the trucks that deliver the stuff are the real cause of road damage. Just increase the taxes on trucks.
Slashdot Mirror
Now the NSA will appeal. Off to the Supreme Court it goes. About fucking time. It is time to enforce the fourth amendment. I hope there are many more fourth amendment challenges in the pipeline. The bill of rights is the only thing left to save us from government tyranny.
The notion that you have to store solar electricity is based on political factors, not energy factors. Energy use is highest during the day, so much so that hydroelectric generation is normally turned on in the morning and off at night. If you have a large solar base, you simply shut down the hydro on the days that the sun shines, and turn it on at night instead, or in the day when the sun is obscured over most of the powershed. There is no rule that you have to run hydro by day, and no rule that says solar facilities have to provide power at night. Hydro can quickly ramp up and down to load balance. Dispersed solar power over a two or three state area will provide a fairly standard amount of power each day even if part of the area is cloudy. Only in the event of a large storm will the power be reduced over the whole area, and hydro can pick up the slack when that happens. Think California, Arizona, and Nevada. They are mostly sunny anyway, and only very rarely will all of these states be cloudy at the same time. Your comment about bean counting is just stupid. It is a business, and the beans have to be counted. Period.
There would be a much quicker return on the investment if the money was invested in dispersed solar generation. Low interest loans and tax credits to homeowners would have panels on roofs in a few months, not the decades it would take to get a nuke online. Also, remember the $226 million is just a start. The cost of nuclear power is huge if it is done even halfway intelligently. Dispersed solar power is quick and cheap. For now the greatest demand on our power networks is during the hot summer afternoons, which is exactly when solar panels produce the most power. This is a perfect fit for our power needs.
Nuclear power is the most heavily subsidized power source. If we can afford to subsidize nuclear, we can subsidize solar. The difference is an almost immediate effect on power generation rather than the twenty year lag for nuclear. Solar subsidies are a good bang for the buck.
WalMart does have lots of solar panels. With solar panels being so cheap now, it wouldn't take much more in the way of subsidies to literally have panels on every WalMart, BestBuy, KMart, and 7-Eleven. Imagine subsidized loans to put panels on every elementary school. Billions are loaned for every nuclear power plant, why not turn thousands of schools into power plants instead?
If you ask questions about our energy future from a nuclear context, you will get nuclear answers. If you think about it from en environmental viewpoint you get environmental answers. If you think about it from the economic perspective you get economic answers. If you think about it from the renewable context you get renewable answers.
Unfortunately, the solar industry looks at the issue from the context of huge solar power plants instead of dispersed solar installations. That is where the money is. If the solar energy issue is addressed from the dispersed solar context it looks way different. Imagine empowering businesses like WalMart to cover every store with solar panels. Imaging requiring every new home to have solar panels. Imagine retrofitting all the appropriate buildings in the country with solar panels. Imagine the hydroelectric power plants changing their generation schedules to generate at night when solar power goes away, instead of in the day like they do now when demand is highest.
This can be done much quicker and more cheaply than the nuclear path. It takes twenty years to get a nuke online. Dispersed solar can be online in a year or so. The cost of solar panels comes down almost every day. If you think dispersed solar, the equation changes on everything.
My 1985 landcruiser has not a digital bone in its body. Old school thru and thru.
I'm not really crazy about a bunch of people yaking on cellphones in restaurants either. Maybe cellphones should be prohibited.
Seriously, you can't tell the difference when someone is using a phone to take pictures?
The difference is the surveillance video doesn't get posted online. (usually)
I'm with you on the rootkit fiasco. Sony has not gotten a dime from me since then. They probably didn't notice it, but I feel great about boycotting them nonetheless..
Maybe they can trade in their 3-D TVs.
Fukishima melted down because the earthquake cut off power, and then the tsunami flooded the emergency generators because the designers failed to anticipate the size of the tsunami wave. In a cyclone of this size the loss of electric power is a certainty. If the Fukishima designers failed to adequately protect the generators from an unanticipated tsunami, what is to say the designers of a Filipino nuclear plant would have anticipated the height of the storm surge from such an extraordinary cyclone? I think the assumption that a nuclear plant would have survived is little more than an assumption. A poorly designed nuclear plant could be built anywhere. Failing to protect from unanticipated events is a mistake that engineers make all the time.
Or perhaps Lady GaGa?
How do you tell the diner from the dinner, perhaps?
chicken
".. in most places, cats aren't allowed to roam unleashed off your property any more than dogs" I am a cat owner. I have never heard of any place that has a cat leash law. I do think it might be a good idea, but I am not aware of anywhere it has been enacted. Can you give me a few specific examples of "most places"?
How is this working out for the USA?
At last, someone that actually read the article. Banning the manufacture and sale of the worst wood stoves forces the public to buy the wood stoves that are less polluting. They can keep using their existing wood stoves in most cases. What is wrong with this? The EPA rules do NOT ban woodburning. They do not ban existing woodstoves. They simply try to move new woodstove buyers into better stoves. The technology is there and the new regs just require people to use it.
If the sun is turning into a red giant and toasting our planet to a cinder, the biosignature of earth is a tiny footnote to the real event. Who cares if the plants die of a lack of CO2 right before they are incinerated? The main event is the star.
"The Sheep Look Up" is a book by John Brunner. I thought it was a fitting reference for those that read older science fiction. In the story, the sheep did finally look up, as I remember it, but they endured hell-on-earth before they did. The point was, eventually even the most passive people will eventually see the obvious things that are in front of their noses.
You are correct, but only up to a point. Normally the average voter is uninformed and unengaged, but there have been times in the past where voter outrage has overcome apathy and misdirection. There have been situations where the outrage of voters has trumped the political contributions of the corporate interests. It doesn't happen often, but it has happened in the past. I really don't know if the snowden revelations will even come close, but it should. We are in the middle of a virtual coup. The constitution has been suspended, probably indefinitely, and the sheep don't seem to care.
Slashdotters seem pretty appalled at these revelations, but when will the general public reach the point of disgust? In theory the people of the USA still have the power to change these behaviors through the ballot box. The news just goes on and on. but the outrage seems slow to reach the surface.
"WTF has this country come too?!" A coup, basically. By suspending the constitution (Patriot Act) we no longer have rights. Between the Patriot Act and Citizens United we no longer are a constitutional democracy.
Like it or not, the Patriot Act effectively suspended the Constitution. Under the Patriot Act the government basically does as it pleases and they don't even have to tell anybody what they do. It is only because of Edward snowden that we even know about any of this. Will the supremes uphold the constitution? I doubt it. The Global War On Terror isn't over until politicians declare it over. Get some new politicians, and we'll see then.
The other problem is making it simple lets tax payers see what's going on. No government would want that.
We drive less because we order everything from Amazon instead of shopping, but the trucks that deliver the stuff are the real cause of road damage. Just increase the taxes on trucks.